Posts Tagged ‘radiation’

What are some of the medicines that are related to treating Pancreatic Cancer ?

Although Pancreatic Cancer is a very dangerous disease, and it ranks fourth in the list of life taking cancers, it can still be treated with some medicines. Getting yourself diagnosed at an earlier stage and taking the required treatment for Pancreatic cancer is always better than waiting for the cancer to get to an advanced stage, where it becomes almost impossible to cure it. Pancreatic cancer is termed to be a silent killer because of the fact that it does not show any symptoms in its initial stages. The Pancreas is basically the organ located in between the abdomen and the small intestine. There are two glands in the pancreas which possess their own independent functionalities. The exocrine gland secretes digestive juices hence stimulating the digestion process and the endocrine glands produces important hormones like insulin which keeps the sugar level in the blood balanced.
Pancreatic cancer can be treated when diagnosis is done early, in a curable stage. Pancreatic cancer is treated with the help of the following therapies on the basis of the results obtained from surgery:
• First therapy is Chemotherapy.
• The second type of therapy is radiotherapy.
Apart from these therapies, there are many medicines that are present for Pancreatic cancer. They can be listed as follows:
• Fluorouracil (5-FU): This drug is infused into the cancer patient with the help of a medication pump. When used in combination with radiation, it makes the cancer cells more sensitive.
• Avastin: This drug is very helpful in slowing down the growth of cancerous cells. This drug should be stopped for at least four weeks after and before the surgery of the patient. It is used in combination with other medicines used for treatment of cancer. The drug has side effects such as problems in the healing of wounds, this also leads to infections or bleeding of wounds.
• Pancreatin: It helps in the digestion process of the body and should be taken along with a full glass of water during meals. This medicine causes irritation when held in the mouth for a long time. It should be taken with a diet referred by a doctor or a health nutritionist. There are minor side effects like swollen joints, stomach pain, etc which can happen due to its use.
• Gemcitabine (Gemzar): This medication is given for seven weeks for one day in every week and then for one week the treatment is halted. Then the dosage of the medicine is decreased in number gradually. It directly affects cancer cells with side effects of this medication including nausea, fatigue, infections risks, etc.
• Afinitor: This drug is also responsible for interfering with the cell growth and slowing down the growth of the cancerous cells. It should not be taken in case the patient is allergic to drugs like tacrolimus, everolimus, etc. It could be harmful for patients of diabetes, liver disease, hepatitis B and pregnant ladies as well.
• Adrucil: This drug interferes with reproduction system’s protein production. The patient must inform to their doctors about any kind of side effects being suffered by the patient while using this drug. Problems related to kidney, allergies, breast feeding and pregnancy must be reported to the concerned doctor immediately or else future problems may take place. Some side effects of this drug include fever, chill, vomiting and nausea.
There are several other medications which can be used for treating pancreatic cancer. One should remember that these medications are only the added supplements that are combined with your treatment and they cannot be used to treat the cancer when taken individually.

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What are some of the steps involved in the treatment of Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer is a deadly cancer that arises within the exocrine part of the pancreas, so the treatment also starts with the cure of exocrine part first. While starting the treatment, there are different types of treatment obtainable for pancreatic cancer patients. Some of them are presently used while others are still under experiments and observations.

Types of Standard Treatment
1) Surgery
2) Chemotherapy
3) Radiation Therapy
4) Non-Surgical Therapy (Medications)

Surgery
One of the following surgical procedures is utilized to remove the tumour:
a) Gastric Bypass: It removes the tumour out of the way of the food pipe that goes to the stomach that goes directly from oesophagus to the small intestine so that to make it feasible for the patient to eat normally.
b) Total Pancreatectomy: The whole pancreas along with the side tissues i.e. stomach’s part, small intestine’s part, the gall bladder, the spleen, the nearby lymph nodes and the common bile duct are all removed through an operation.
c) Endoscopic Stent Placement: The Doctor may put the stent in place of the tumour that is blocking the bile duct in order to drain the bile duct over that area of the small intestine.
d) Whipple Procedure: Here, the head of the pancreas, stomachs and small intestines part, the gall bladder and the bile duct are taken out such that only necessary part of pancreas remains that releases certain digestive juices and insulin as per the body needs.
e) Distal Pancreatectomy: The tail, whole body and the spleen are removed because in case the tumour starts spreading into all the body parts, then it would be dangerous to live with.
f) Celiac Plexus Block: There are group of nerves in the abdomen that are called Celiac Plexus which sends pain signals from abdomen to the brain and causes shear pain. So a surgery is done to control the pain by performing Celiac Plexus Block (CPB) or Celiac Plexus Neurolysis (CPN). CPN includes injecting an alcoholic drug that eradicates painful nerves permanently while CPB includes injecting medication like corticosteroids and numbing medications. This does not destroy the nerve but calm down the pain for few months.
g) Gastro duodenal Stent Placement: This placement is minimally persistent technique that helps to bring relieve certain symptoms like severe nausea, vomiting, malnutrition and even dehydration, finally, improves the worth of one’s life. The Tumour places a stent by replacing natural gastric path, especially within the duodenum in the small intestine.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy treats the cancer patient using various chemicals and drugs so as to resist the growth of cancer cells in the body. It also depends up on type and stage of the cancer.
a) Systemic Chemotherapy is either done as consuming a medicine or injected into a vein or muscle.
b) Regional Chemotherapy is accomplished when drugs are put directly into cerebrospinal fluid or organ or a body cavity such as abdomen.

Radiation Therapy
Radiation Therapy is mostly used in cancer treatment these days as it uses radiations to kill the cancer cells and resists them to grow more into the body parts. It depends up on the stage and the type of cancer it is related to.

Types of Radiation used in this procedure:
a) External Radiation Therapy throws the radiation on to the body by an external machine.
b) Internal Radiation Therapy uses a radioactive substance packed in the needles, wires, seeds, or even catheters that are put closely to the cancer tumour.

Non-Surgical Therapy
Biologic Therapy: This Therapy combines the body’s substances and substances made in the laboratory are utilised to boost up the body’s natural defence system as it uses patient’s immune system to fight against cancer cells.